Graphical programming languages, like Hewlett-Packard's VEE, are iconic programming systems. Such a system is a “programming-less” environment where programming is performed by employing objects, or icons (i.e., graphical images of functions), together with connecting lines, to form a directed graph and create an iconic network which is representative of a software program. The iconic programming system may be used in a test and measurement system, where several different electronic instruments are connected to test a system or a device. Programming such a system requires instructions to cause the various instruments to perform desired functions in order to operate as a system. When an iconic programming system is used, each instrument will be represented by a graphical icon, and the connections between the instruments are represented by lines between the icons. Programming functions, such as IF-THEN-ELSE statements and FOR loops, can also be represented by icons. By combining programming icons with instrument icons, a user can create an iconic network related to the operation of the instruments.
Such iconic networks are often large and/or complicated. Debugging these networks is tedious and fraught with pitfalls. Often the user cannot be sure which icons have already executed and which paths the program took. There is a need in the art then for a system that will provide a way for a programmer in an iconic programming system to trace the path a program has taken and to identify which icons have executed while debugging the program.
Various features and components of an iconic programming system are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,481 for METHOD FOR CREATING DYNAMIC USER PANELS IN AN ICONIC PROGRAMMING SYSTEM of Hunt and U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,043 for PROCESSING METHOD FOR AN ICONIC PROGRAMMING SYSTEM of Beethe, each of which is hereby specifically incorporated by reference for all that is disclosed therein.